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An Intimate Glimpse Into Frida Kahlo’s Life In Mexico City And New York At The Dallas Museum Of Art

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A ceramic dog with a bowl growing out of its head holds a piece of yellow fruit, surrounded by a wide array of colorful citrus fruits and tropical melons. Dark and light seeds are exposed in a veiny slice of watermelon. A small Mexican flag is propped up behind a large yellow melon, sliced to show its seeds on the top left of the compositions, while a pink flag pokes into another robust yellow melon, extracting droplets juice. The pink flag appears to flutter from a breeze, emblazoned with the words "Soy de Samuel Fastlicht. Me pintó con todo cariño por Frida Kahlo en 1951. Coyoacán." Translated from Spanish, it means: "I belong to Samuel Fastlicht. I was painted with great affection by Frida Kahlo in 1951. Coyoacán." 

Kahlo was born and died in the Colonia del Carmen neighborhood of Coyoacán in Mexico City, where she spent the final 13 years of her traumatic yet fascinating life. Fastlicht, a European dentist who came to Mexico in 1921, performed dental work on the artist 30 years later in exchange for this vibrant, playful still life oil on canvas painting. 

Still Life, 1951 is one of Frida Kahlo: Five Works, which opened yesterday at the Dallas Museum of Art. Four paintings and a drawing on loan from a private collection, courtesy of the Galería Arvil in Mexico City, will be on view through June 20.

The installation examines Kahlo’s creative process, including her use of metaphorical imagery and her late-career exploration of still lifes, as well as her thirst for excitement amid a life of excruciating physical and emotional pain and suffering.

Frida Kahlo: Five Works is on display simultaneously with Devoted: Art and Spirituality in Mexico and New Mexico, featuring works from the DMA’s Latin American collection. Both are curated by Dr. Mark A. Castro, Jorge Baldor Curator of Latin American Art.

“It is always exciting to delve into the works of a dynamic artist like Frida Kahlo,” said Dr. Agustín Arteaga, the DMA’s Eugene McDermott Director. “This generous loan will offer our visitors a chance to look closely at these five works and explore the many stories they can tell about Kahlo, her remarkable work, and her inspiring life.”

The simple drawing, View of New York (1932), depicts Kahlo’s perspective from a window at the Barbizon Plaza Hotel, where she stayed during her quest for adventure and inspiration in the United States, where she traveled with her husband, world-renowned painter and muralist Diego Rivera. Kahlo inscribed the drawing, dedicating it to Dolores del Río, a renowned Mexican actress, dancer, and singer, revered as the first Latin American woman performer to win fame in Hollywood.

The couple is depicted in her portrait, Diego and Frida 1929 –1944 (1944), which is presented in the original shell-embellished frame chosen by Kahlo. She created it as a personal reminder of her often tumultuous, always passionate, 15-year relationship with Rivera, who was exactly two decades older, and, who at six-feet-tall and nearly 300 pounds, hulked over her frail 5-foot-3-inch, 100-pound frame. The couple were married in a traditional Catholic civil ceremony in 1929, six years after they met when he painted a mural at her school in 1923.

The dazzling, enchanting The Sun and Life (1947) borrows from art history and evokes spirituality to convey a soulful narrative of life and death.

Like the piece she gifted her beloved dentist, Still Life with Parrot and Flag (1951) celebrates Kahlo’s Mexican heritage and culture, repeating themes with a wider variety of exotic fruits, a parrot instead of dog, and a smaller Mexican flag perched at an angle with a toothpick poking into the luscious, rosy membranes of a halved fruit. Parrots pop up in Kahlo’s portraits, including the well-known Me and My Parrots, painted in 1941, soon after her father’s death and the inception of her physical deterioration.

Frida Kahlo: Five Works includes an examination of three of Kahlo’s paintings conducted by Castro and the DMA’s Painting Conservator Laura Hartman using non-invasive imaging techniques such as x-radiography and infrared photography, which enable the viewer to take a deeper look.

“At a time when art has become a critical source of solace and inspiration for many of us, this small installation offers a glimpse into the work of one today’s most admired artists,” said Castro. “At the heart of the sensational story of Kahlo’s life are captivating works like these; they are visceral in their emotion and vibrant in their execution.”

A virtual tour of the exhibition is available at virtual.DMA.org in the coming months.

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